The fixture was a tough route to the Champions League but Tottenham Hotspur negotiated it with poise and purpose. Victory ought to have come sooner, but Peter Crouch notched it at last in the 82nd minute by heading home after Marton Fulop had pushed out a deflected cross from Younes Kaboul.

The campaign does not necessarily end with this achievement. Harry Reknapp's side lie two points behind Arsenal and therefore have some hope of leapfrogging their north London rivals when they each play their last domestic matches on Sunday. The win at Eastlands, however, has already been deliriously sufficient for Tottenham.

They last made it into the European Cup in 1961 and had never before clinched a place in the top four since the inception of the Premier League. Harry Redknapp was appointed manager at White Hart Lane as recently as the autumn of 2008 and has achieved this transformation largely with the squad he inherited, even if Crouch is a potent addition.

The scorer had not started a game since the defeat by Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final, but Redknapp timed his reinstatement to perfection. Crouch, who had struck the post in the first-half, hungered for his breakthrough. It was merely his eighth goal of the league campaign, but the header is now a key image in the history of Tottenham.

The ramifications for Manchester City are extensive, but purely because of the far-reaching disappointment. Another spree in the transfer market is to be anticipated, despite the £200m or so spent to date, but it is hard to say who the managerial beneficiary will be.

Roberto Mancini only took over from Mark Hughes in December and has overseen progress, but the manner of this setback does him harm. The vehemence, in spells, of City's endeavour ruled out the co-ordinated football that was instead to be Tottenham's speciality. City put themselves in difficulties and Bellamy could have done more to prevent the Kaboul delivery for the goal.

Redknapp's scheme worked to near perfection and Ledley King, as he had assumed, was able to undertake a second game in quick succession after the defeat of Bolton at the weekend. Tottenham also gave Aaron Lennon his first start since December. The winger will have confidence that he has overcome the groin injury and while he was not critical to this win Lennon broadened the side's range.

City, for their part, were prone to futile individualism and too many basic tasks were neglected. There was no patience and barely any pattern. In consequence they contrived to exhaust themselves without taxing their opponents all that much. The pair of exciting runs that almost carried Carlos Tevez clear early in the evening were sources of false hope.

By the time the Argentinian fired into the side netting after 44 minutes, Gareth Barry, the colleague who had supplied him, would surely have been exasperated at such an attempt from a very tight angle when the ball ought to have been cut back.

Tottenham competed in a composed manner and the initial danger posed by Tevez dwindled ultimately to vanishing point. King had a great part in that work and Fabio Capello, with the World Cup in mind, would have been pleased not just by that contribution but also by the sight of Lennon at work.

After 39 minutes the winger eluded Bellamy and Crouch knocked his deep cross down, only for a first-time effort to be sent wide by Gareth Bale, who was outstanding on the left flank.

The challenge of this contest was met by Tottenham. The side had been professional and effective when beating both Arsenal and Chelsea at White Hart Lane, but then went down 3-1 at Manchester United.

City are not, of course, so formidable as their Premier League neighbours, yet there was an intense spell from them immediately after half-time. Barry, for instance, got himself so far forward that he was in place to knock back a deep, inswinging cross from Adam Johnson on the right. There was no one around to complete the move by scoring and Mancini's side lack the predatory instinct.

Jermain Defoe illustrated the trait in the 56th minute as his effort with the outside of the right boot called for the save with which Fulop tipped the ball round the post. City could not maintain their composure and the injured Barry had to make way for Patrick Vieira.